Dear Compliance Man,<\/p>\n
My buddy and I have spent most of the last year doing electrical work as part of a big school renovation project. Everything was going fine until we got near the end of the project and switched over from wiring to installing equipment like flat-paneled TVs, sound systems. When we noticed that our paychecks were smaller, we approached him and were told that we don\u2019t get the electrician\u2019s rate anymore because we\u2019re done with the electrical work. Is this really true?<\/p>\n
–Wired Out West<\/p>\n
Dear Wired,<\/p>\n
The short answer to your question is \u2018no.\u2019<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, in my years answering questions from construction workers, I\u2019ve encountered too many examples of just what you\u2019ve described. And while contractors typically blame confusion over prevailing wage laws, the mistake seems to always result in the worker being paid less than what he or she is owed. Roofers, for example, are still roofers even if they\u2019re moving up and down the ladder or hauling equipment to the roof site.<\/p>\n
In your case, the rate you receive is based on the collective bargaining agreement that covers your particular trade. In other words, while the specifics of your job may change from day to day, you remain an electrician throughout and that\u2019s the rate at which you should be paid.<\/p>\n
The good news is that you\u2019re most likely entitled to back pay\u2014and the FFCM would be happy to help you get it. Give us a call at\u00a01-877-507-3247, email us at\u00a0info@ffcm.org<\/a>, or fill out\u00a0this electronic form<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more commonly asked Compliance Man questions, visit the\u00a0Compliance Man archives<\/a>. Send your question to\u00a0info@ffcm.org<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Compliance Man, My buddy and I have spent most of the last year doing electrical work as part of a big school renovation project. Everything was going fine until we got near the end of the project and switched over from wiring to installing equipment like flat-paneled TVs, sound systems. When we noticed that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[43,35,49,50,38],"class_list":["post-802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-compliance-man","tag-accounting","tag-contractor","tag-electricians","tag-paycheck","tag-prevailing-wage","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ffcm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ffcm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ffcm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ffcm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ffcm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.ffcm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1463,"href":"http:\/\/www.ffcm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions\/1463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ffcm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ffcm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ffcm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}